6 TREE PRUNING. 



the subject of forest management has occupied the 

 public mind, the two legislative chambers, a few 

 years ago, discussed this subject at great length with- 

 out reaching any satisfactory conclusion ; in France, 

 authorities do not yet agree, some condemn all 

 pruning, while others believe in the advantage of 

 pruning, but without agreeing on the best methods 

 to adopt. 



Certain theorists declare that there is an absolute 

 correlation between the roots and the branches of a 

 tree, and that the cutting off of a branch necessarily 

 kills the corresponding root. If such a theory is cor- 

 rect, how can the results obtained by cutting back 

 young trees to the ground or the topping of pollards, 

 by which all branches are suppressed, be explained ? 



A more serious objection to pruning, w.hich is often 

 made by timber dealers, the persons, perhaps, most 

 interested in the matter, and therefore most compe- 

 tent to judge, is that trees which have been pruned 

 lose by the operation twenty-five, thirty, or even fifty 

 per cent of their value, that is, a quarter to a half, 

 and that such trees are generally decayed. This can- 

 not be denied ; but it proves that such trees have 

 been badly pruned, not that all pruning is bad. 

 Opponents of pruning maintain, too, that the scars 

 which such operations must leave on the trunks of 

 trees indicate internal defects in the wood, and that 

 these trees cannot be readily sold. This objection is 

 also well founded in view of the manner in which the 

 operations of pruning are generally performed ; but 



